The History of Trade Unions Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The History of Trade Unions - Research Paper Example These unions gave a voice to the usually scattered laborers and spoke of their rights for the very first time, starting in the mid of 1800s and this has been the case ever since, trade unions ever since then have been a way of life and though their roles were diminished in the 1990s but they have been gaining much more support now and are almost back to the traditional role they performed. The reason for the downfall of these trade unions midway through the '90s was that they failed to align themselves with the change in the general business environment, this was the time when technical skills required among the laborers were most required and perhaps this was the time when they were required the most but the issue that kept them from playing a pivotal role in the changing environment was that large organizations and industries had somehow found a way to tackle these organizations through awareness amongst the employees and general strategy and policies were designed in such a way th at the role of these organizations was made minimal and hence they started losing their power. It is worth while to mention here that these unions were also used in a positive way by some organizations and there is a usual negative feeling associated with the very name of a trade union but we all have to face the that just like individuals there are different unions with different characteristics and hence the generalization that all trade unions are bad has not been a very smart idea. Slowly and gradually their role has been revived due to the increasing role of technology and this has been a major threat to the laborers because it is now quite evident that the threat of completely technical workplaces is becoming a reality really fast and hence laborers again are looking to these bodies to unite and voice their opinion and fear and also to make sure that the higher authorities know that they are united and will take action if and when needed. Given this brief contemporary history, a detailed history of the reason for their formation and also a detail of the work they perform are given below. Formation: There is a general misconception that trade unions were a by-product of the world turning from an agrarian to an industrialized world but unfortunately it is just that, a misconception, trade unions existed in one form or the other before being actually recognized as trade unions they existed in the form of medieval craftsman guilds. These guilds were basically formed to control the flow of craftsman into a particular field because craftsman were only valued as long as they were limited in number and hence if these guilds would not have been controlled the entry of people the trade would have been virtually barrier less and this would have pushed the value of this trade, in a very similar fashion trade unions also have the right to deny or grant anyone admission although in trade unions the strength of a union is usually associated with the number of people associated with it.